US government signs up 20 providers for ‘cloud email’ services, Google and Microsoft don’t make the cut

What moved to Gmail and Google Apps for Government in 2011, just announced 20 “blanket purchase agreements” with 17 providers to allow government agencies to start using ‘cloud email,’ but did not secure a deal with both Google and Microsoft? If you said the ‘General Services Administration,’ you are correct!

Yes, the General Services Administration (GSA) moved to Google Apps and Gmail last year, something that it claims saved it significant dollars. However, today, in its announcement concerning 17 companies that local, state, and federal parts of government can contract with to secure cloud-based email, the two most prominent providers of exactly such a product were missing.

Four of the companies, the GSA wants you to know, are small businesses!

TNW has requested comment from both Microsoft and Google concerning their exclusion from the list. Google and Microsoft have been fighting for positioning in the government space for some time now, competing for contracts, and even squabbling publicly over certifications. To see both not on the above list is confusing, to say that least.

The GSA, first of all federal agencies to move to cloud email, claims to have saved around $2 million thus far. It also promises savings of $1 million for every 7,500 email boxes, annually, for agencies that switch.

Why this push for modernization? According to the GSA, look to the man at the top: “President Obama has asked government agencies to leverage cloud services to become more efficient.”

Update: The GSA’s release was oddly worded, and so we were slightly confused in our initial take. Microsoft has informed TNW that its Exchange product will be offered through the above vendors. That makes much more sense.